Device for turning the pages of music



19, 1954 I GRAVE-s 2,666,353

DEVICE FOR TURNING THE PAGES OF MUSIC Filed March 20, 1951 RICHARDGRAVES \NVE N'rafl:

Patented Jan. 19, 1954 UNITED :STATES PATENT OFFICE DEVICE FOR TURNINGTHE PAGES OF MUSIC Richard Graves Cape Coast, Gold Coast,

1 British West Africa Application March 20, 1951, Serial a. 216,564

i ,1 Claim. (01. 84'520) To all those who play music by sight, it iswell known that the need to turn the pages of the music by hand is adisadvantage, necessitating as it does the. removal of a hand from theinstrument, so that the continuity oithe performance is interrupted. Thechief object of "the present invention is to overcome this disadvantageand to provide asimple and efiicient device whereby the pages of themusic maybe automatically turned, as and when required. a

The device for turning the pages of music according to the presentinvention comprises a plurality of arms adapted to be attached to and toproject from the sides of the pages to be turned, in combination withapivotally mounted operating lever adapted to be swung about its pivot onoperation of a foot or other pedal to engage with the projecting portionof the arm attached to the page to be turned to flick the arm, and hencethe page, over.

The operative end of the said lever is preferably pivotally mounted insuch a manner that it is free to move only upwardly with respect to themain body of the lever to enable it to pass to the back of the nextpage-attached arm on return of the foot pedal, ready for turning thenext page when required.

In order that this invention may be the more clearly understood andreadily carried into effect, reference maybe made to the accompanyingdrawings, which illustrate, by way of example, one convenient embodimentof this invention as applied to the type of music stand used, forexample, by violin players, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus mounted on such a stand.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which thedevice operates,

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which theoperating lever re-sets itself after turning a page, ready to turn thenext page when required.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, the apparatus forautomatically turning pages of music therein illustrated comprises anumber of arms IIJ, one for each of the pages of music which it isdesired to turn, said arms being adapted to be attached to the pages I Iin any suitable manner. Conveniently the arms It may be formedaselongated clips adapted to fit about the page with which the arm it tobe used. The

I n i 2.. a; 1 arms I I) are "of such alength that they jut out beyondthe edge of the page I I and outsidethe page they are provided withupstanding bridges I2, the arms behind the bridges being gapped, as willbe seen more clearly in Figure 2. In order to turn a page towhich an armhas been attached it is merely necessary to impart a flick to the bridgeI2, when the arm I0 will swing about its inner end as a pivot takingwith it the page, it being understoochof course, that the piece of musicis firmly attached to the music stand I3 in a suitable manner.

Freely mounted on a pivot I4 carried at a suitable part'of themusic'stand I3 is an operating lever I5 the lower end 'of which extendsdownwardly, in the embodiment illustrated, and lies behind the bridge ofthe uppermost arm. The lever I5 is connected by means of a link It to afoot pedal I! located at an appropriate position relative to the stand.It will be seen that a sharp depression of the foot pedal I I will causethe arm ID as explained above. Due to the gap behind the bridge in thearm, the arm II) can move away from the end of the lever I5 after theinitial impulse.

When the foot pedal is released the lever I5 returns to its originalposition and re-sets itself portion lid of the operating lever I5 ishinged to the main portion of the arm so that it is free to move withrespect to the same only upwardly.

When the lever I5 returns, its end playing the instrument, for examplean organ, the pedal may be actuated by the knee.

The operating lever l5 need not be mounted with respect to the musicstand in the manner indicated in the drawings. All that is necessary isthat it should be so mounted on the music stand as to impart the flickto the outstanding portion oi the top arm when the foot pedal isdepressed,

If desired the length of the arms I and the length of the operatinglever l may be adjust able in order to adapt the device to music havingdifferent sizes of page and to music stands, of different sizes andtypes.

Iclaim:

A device for automatically turning pages of music whilst permitting theretention of the player's hand upon the instrument being played,including a plurality of arms, each arm being formed as an elongatedclip and embracing a single page, each arm being of a lengthsufiiciently great to, project beyond One edgeof. said page, a bridgeerected on said projecting portion of each arm, a, lever arm pivotednear one end and having the other end for engaging said bridge, meansat, said engaging end including an ancillary relatively short arm, meanspivoting said ancillary arm upon said lever arm at a point relativelyclose, to the engaging end thereof, mean allowing said ancillary arm toswing upwardly through an angle, sufficient to pass the upper portion ofsaid bridge when said lever arm is moving down relatively to saidbridge, whereby said ancillary arm enters into, said bridge, meansblocking the downward swinging of said ancillary arm when, said leverarm is, moved upwardly,

whereby said upward movement of said lever arm will compel said bridgeto move upwardly until the angular motion of said lever arm about thepivoted end thereof shortens the effective distance to which saidancillary arm enters said bridge until it assumes a negative value,whereby said ancillary arm becomes disengaged at a predetermined angularposition from said bridge and allows said bridge to continue upwardmovement by virtue of the inertia acquired whilst said lever was movingthe bridge upwardly and was mechanically coupled thereto via theintermediary 01 said ancillary arm, said coupling thereby constituting aone-way valve action, and power supply means for raising said lever armand for allowing the descent thereof, said power supply means includinga substantially vertical push rod pivoted at the upper end to said leverarm at a point intermediate the extremities thereof and nearer thepivotal point, thereof, and foot pedal means engaging the lower end ofsaid push rod.

RICHARD GRAVES References Cited in the file of this patent

